It is known to make a chain of balls by means of a method consisting in chasing the material of a metal wire at regular intervals so as to form widened zones, each having a neck half-way along, in surrounding each zone in a sheet of metal formed into a ball, and then in breaking the wire at the neck of each widened zone inside the balls.
That method is not particularly well adapted to making an ornamental chain, particularly since the balls thus made do not lend themselves easily to setting precious stones.
A bead necklace is known from French patent FR-1 237 084, each bead including an elastically deformable add-on piece having an edge designed to retain the head of a link member linked to an adjacent bead. The add-on piece is presented in the form of a longitudinally slotted sleeve. When the head of the link member is put into place, the sleeve can deform elastically. Such a bead necklace is not entirely satisfactory. In particular, the add-on piece can turn out to be difficult to make in certain cases since the rim tends to prevent it from deforming elastically. In addition, there is the risk of the beads becoming detached in the event of strong traction being accidentally exerted on the necklace.